The formation of building blocks from compaction of materials such as, for example, soil, clay and/or aggregate is a well-known process utilized throughout the world. These types of structural building blocks are commonly and generically referred to as adobe blocks. Throughout the years, various applications designed to automate this process have been produced. Examples of known equipment configured specifically or similarly for fabricating building blocks by compaction of materials (i.e., conventional building block fabrication equipment) are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 266,532; 435,171; 3,225,409, 4,640,671, 5,358,760 and 6,224,359.
Such known building block fabrication equipment is known to suffer from one or more drawbacks. One such drawback is that they involve relatively complex mechanical procedures that adversely effect productivity in the number of blocks fabricated in a particular period of time and/or portability of the equipment itself. Another drawback is that they are limited in their ability to readily and efficiently produce building blocks of different sizes and/or shapes. Still another drawback is that they do not readily allows for two or more systems to be joined and operated simultaneously or independently, while maintaining easy access to replaceable components.
In addition to drawbacks associated with known building block fabrication equipment, structural building blocks whose physical integrity depends on compaction are known to exhibit shortcomings. Structural building blocks that rely solely on compaction for physical integrity often degrade over time as a result of aging and/or environmental conditions. Furthermore, such compaction is often positively or adversely impacted by variables such as, for example, moisture content of the compacted materials, natural degradation of the constituent organic materials and the like. Compressive forces applied to the building blocks during use of such structural building blocks can also exceed their load carrying capabilities. The result of the load carrying capability being exceeded resulting in cracking and/or crushing of such structural building blocks, which is aesthetically unappealing and impairs the structural integrity of the building structure made using such building blocks.
Therefore, fabricating structural building blocks in a manner that overcomes drawbacks and shortcomings associated with known methods and block fabricating equipment would be useful, advantageous and novel.